ICE met with protests after reportedly separating families outside Phoenix Immigration Court

By Casey Clowes

PHOENIX — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were met with protests Wednesday after they had reportedly stationed themselves outside a Phoenix courtroom to detain families exiting.

Mi Familia Vota and Progress Arizona were two of the groups protesting the arrests at the Phoenix Immigration Court at Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street, characterizing the ICE presence as “disturbing” and “a deeply alarming escalation.”

Families exiting the courthouse were immediately separated and placed onto a nearby transport bus without any semblance of due process, according to Progress Arizona. It added legal teams are currently working to locate estranged family members.

“Due process is a very basic idea,” Progress Arizona Executive Director Alex Alvarez said in a statement. “If the government wants to infringe on your liberty, they better have a damn good reason, and they have to prove their case.

“Without it, anyone can be disappeared with impunity, citizen and noncitizen alike. Today, ICE, acting as a modern-day Gestapo, continued the Trump regime’s all-out assault on due process, ripping community members, who were following typical legal proceedings, away from their families.”

ICE, in a statement, said its tactics to detain people at courthouses are in the interest of public safety.

“Arrests of illegal aliens in courthouses is safer for law enforcement and the general public because these individuals have gone through security and been verified as unarmed,” an ICE spokesperson told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “ICE will make thoughtful decisions in each case and do whatever is most likely to keep the American people safe.”

It referenced guidance issued the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration that directs ICE to courtroom arrests when they have reasons to believe a target is there.

The actions, which Progress Arizona said occurred on both Tuesday and Wednesday, were part of a recent wave of courtroom arrests across the country.

“We are outraged by this cruel attack against our immigrant community. We witnessed parents and children being detained and abducted into unmakred vans immediately after attending their scheduled immigration proceedings,” Mi Familia Vota Arizona State Director Monica Sandschafer said. “This is the goal of MAGA’s hateful campaign and we will not stand by it.

“Detaining people outside of court hearings is a violation of basic due process rights. We demand an immediate stop to these hateful tactics.”

What did Arizona government leaders say about ICE protests?

Arizona House Democratic leaders called the actions less of immigration enforcement and more of “government-sponsored trauma.”

“Trump’s cruel mass deportation machine is showing up in our community again,” said Quanta Crews, Caucus Whip. “What is happening outside the Phoenix Immigration Court is horrifying. Agents waited in the shadows. They targeted mothers and fathers who were following the law.

“People showed up for their hearings in good faith and were taken into custody when they walked out. Some were arrested in front of their children. There was no warning, no legal counsel. Just arrests and a bus waiting to take them away.”

The statement advised those continuing through immigration proceedings to not travel to the courthouse alone, if possible. They should bring an attorney or a trusted family friend.

“We need witnesses. We need documentation. We need each other,” the statement read.